The mysterious hooded man never once lifted his hood, giving the people just a clear view of his chin which was totally unfamiliar to them. And as mentioned before, he also didn't use his beast integration in the previous rounds, that's why no one has seen his face.
"A disciple against a disciple, huh... I wonder who'd win..." A familiar face muttered to himself underneath the hood.
As White Mist and Yun Zhe walked toward the grand stage, they noticed that the hooded man still had no modicum of intention when it comes to removing his hood. He just stood there, menacingly, with his arms crossed on his chest. His teammate arrived soon after, wearing the same hood as him but unlike the mysterious hooded man, his teammate just looked stupid with the jacket on.
"Let the fight begin!" The referee called out without further ado, chopping his hand forward before running towards the edge of the grand stage.
Yun Zhe was the first one to step forward, smiling toward White Mist as he summoned his Representative, the Primordial Excalibur.
The Primordial Excalibur was a huge weapon, almost as tall as Yun Zhe, and it emitted threatening energy with off-colored sparks surrounding it. Everyone watched in anticipation as they waited for Yun Zhe to integrate with this particular tamed beast. "Leave it to me. Unlike the first two rounds, we're going to fight as a team, all right? Let's set aside our Factions, for now, we have to win this match."
Since White Mist had no other choice but to agree, he just nodded his head and summoned his Representative. This was what gave him the edge during the second round and won him the match. "Death Metronome, I'm counting on you, all right?"
Even though White Mist was still inexperienced when it comes to dual beast integration, he can go head to head with a beast master thanks to his Representative. If it weren't for Death Metronome, he would've lost the second round.
"Nice, we're going to win this. I'm sure that two representatives would win against any normal tamed beast." Yun Zhe said to himself as he grabbed his Primordial Excalibur and wielded it.
Right now, Yun Zhe decided to just wield his Representative Primordial Excalibur first. Even though this was the third round and his final match for the day, Yun Zhe knew he couldn't just waste his energy by integrating with his Representative. He'd have to test the waters first and then activate his beast integration the moment he finds his window to victory.
And with White Mist with him, Yun Zhe knew that their victory is certain. There was no way they'd lose since the opponents didn't seem to have any Representatives with them.
"Two Representatives... and they're going to attack us, tiring us out before they integrate with them. That's a pretty clever and straightforward strategy." The mysterious hooded man said, his lips curving into a smile. Without further ado, he extended his hand and threw a Gren towards the center of the grand stage.
"You're part of the Black Fog Faction, right? Can you activate your dual beast integration?" The hooded man asked his teammate who nodded along in response. At that moment, the hooded man had the same thought as White Mist and Yun Zhe— that they were going to win the match.
Tension was beginning to build up in the grand stage as the Gren released a blinding light that temporarily illuminated the entire grand stage. When the light dispersed, a weird but graceful tamed beast appeared in the middle of the grand stage. It let out a squeal before looking around.
Meanwhile, inside Satoshi and Yun Zhe's waiting room, Satoshi comfortably sat on the couch. He was trying so hard not to doze off since he couldn't possibly miss Yun Zhe's match. He'd already seen his epic performance during the second round so there was no way he'd miss his next match. It was obvious that Satoshi was sleepy, but he forced his eyes to remain open as he continued watching.
His soul was immediately woken up when a somewhat familiar tamed beast appeared at the center of the grand stage. "It looks like Sera, but taller... what on earth is that thing?" Satoshi muttered to himself as his eyes widened in surprise. He couldn't believe that the resemblance of the tamed beast to his Sera was so uncanny.
"Dex, do you have any idea what kind of tamed beast that is?" Satoshi asked, pointing at the television while he leaned forward. He assumed that Dex was somewhere nearby so he addressed him without thinking twice.
[I believe that's a Cheru, Satoshi]
[It's the second form of Sera. However, it should be impossible for someone like him to tame one since a Cheru is a Celestial. In the natural order of the world and the beast dimension, Celestials and Unearthlyiesshouldn't exist unless they were sent here, or were transported. I believe that Luke Skyrunner is not a regular beast tamer.]
"So, he's just like me? He has access to strong tamed beasts but we have no idea where he gets them... wait a minute..." Satoshi trailed off as he reviewed what Dex just said in his mind a couple of seconds ago. "What did you just say?" He asked as if he didn't hear what Dex just told him.
[What is it, Satoshi?]
"Did you just say that the man underneath that hood is... Luke Skyrunner?" Satoshi asked as he suspiciously looked at the empty air. As usual, he had no idea where Dex was hiding, but he could tell (thanks to their connection in his mind) that Dex was nearby.
[Yes, that man wearing the hood is undoubtedly Luke Skyrunner. There's no doubt about it, Satoshi]
"What?! So the mysterious hooded man was actually... Luke Skyrunner all along?" Satoshi almost screamed his lungs out as his eyes almost popped out of their sockets. The jacket he was wearing was a tad bit baggy, no wonder Satoshi didn't recognize him at all.
"Dex, tell me one thing... Yun Zhe is strong, right? And White Mist is decent since he's got a Representative with him. But what about Luke Skyrunner? Is he stronger than the two of them?" Satoshi asked. Based on the one and only tamed beast he sent out on the grand stage, Satoshi could already more or less guess that Luke was a formidable beast tamer. But he just had to ask Dex since he wanted to make sure if Luke was a threat or not.
[He is strong... but I can't specifically gauge a person's power level, Satoshi.]
[If I were to compare the two, I can give a rough estimate. Luke Skyrunner is stronger than Yun Zhe... but it's only by a small margin. That small margin can be overcome with pure skills and combat abilities alone so if we put all that into account. I can say that this match can go either way.]
"So this is going to be a close match, huh," Satoshi muttered to himself.
While all that was going on, Link was still inside his comfortable transparent capsule. He wasn't struggling anymore, he just simply give up while he lay down inside the capsule that imprisoned him. He could still hear sound from outside so he didn't have any problems watching the live stream. "When are you going to let me out, Satoshi?" He asked... but Satoshi never looked in his direction, nor did he acknowledge his presence in the room.
...
Back at the Grand Stage,
Luke Skyrunner extended his hand and flipped the hems of a jacket as if he was the main protagonist. He then grabbed another Gren from his pocket and summoned another tamed beast. This tamed beast was another Celestial... or at least that's what it looked like since it had a graceful presence and it had a pristine white color.
The second tamed beast that Luke Skyrunner summoned looked like a cloud with two dots for eyes. Luke Skyrunner grabbed it by its tail and held it in his hand like a piece of oversized marshmallow. "Cheru, you know what to do."
Just like what Sera does, Cheru let out a squeal before it floated to the top of the grand stage. It then swung his hands in a graceful manner as if she was doing a dance in mid-air, and then sparkles of tiny specks of light came down on the grand stage.
"Why do I suddenly feel heavy?" Yun Zhe asked himself as he tried to balance the Primordial Excalibur on his hand. It didn't take long before he realized that Cheru was actually debuffing him while buffing the opponents at the same time. "So that's why you summoned that tamed beast first. How convenient."
"I'm going to take care of that. Death Metronome, nullify the debuffs. We're going to fight fire with fire." White Mist called out as Death Metronome also floated upwards, fighting Cheru on her playing field while everyone prepared for the first strike.
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